Vulnerability is a part of human existence, a substantial dimension of what it means to be human. As several scholars have convincingly argued, the concept of vulnerability challenges any attempt to reduce the question of human dignity to a protection of individual autonomy.

We contribute to the discussion by arguing in favor of a more dialectical understanding of the relation between vulnerability and human rights. We start off with a short presentation of our view of the Swedish case of medical age assessments. In the next step we formulate what appears to be a paradox—the Swedish state incorporating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and, simultaneously, enforcing inhumane restrictions on the rights of young asylum seekers. We proceed by deconstructing the paradox and arguing that these seemingly conflicting trends can be explained as manifestations of two different but interrelated dimensions of the current human rights culture, namely, juridification of human rights protection and reduction of vulnerability to a function of age. In the concluding part of the chapter we offer a critical reflection on the relation between authentic human rights protection and human vulnerability.